Wayne Staats | NCAA.com | August 19, 2019 Clemson is No. 1 in first Coaches Poll of the 2019 season 2019 college football quarterbacks to watch Share For the first time since 2015, a team not named Alabama is the preseason No. 1 in the Coaches Poll. Defending national champion Clemson, which was No. 2 in the first poll a year ago, picked up 59 first-place votes to open No. 1. Alabama received six first-place votes and is No. 2. Georgia, Oklahoma and Ohio State round out the top five. It's also the first time Clemson is the preseason No. 1. Rank School (First place votes) Points 1 Clemson (59) 1,619 2 Alabama (6) 1,566 3 Georgia 1,447 4 Oklahoma 1,415 5 Ohio State 1,368 6 LSU 1,218 7 Michigan 1,155 8 Florida 1,103 9 Notre Dame 1,100 10 Texas 1,038 11 Texas A&M 893 12 Washington 834 13 Oregon 787 14 Penn State 699 15 Utah 642 16 Auburn 606 17 Wisconsin 436 17 UCF 436 19 Iowa 343 20 Michigan State 313 21 Washington State 274 22 Syracuse 227 23 Stanford 200 24 Iowa State 169 25 Northwestern 161 The Crimson Tide have ranked in the top three of every preseason Coaches Poll going back to the 2010 season. In four of the previous five times Alabama didn't open No. 1, it ended up winning the national title. It's the third time in four seasons that Alabama and Clemson hold the top two spots in the preseason Coaches Poll. But this year marks the first time it's the Tigers and not 'Bama at No. 1. The Coaches Poll doesn't have a connection to the College Football Playoff rankings, but the major polls have been solid at predicting the eventual semifinalists. For 2018, Alabama ranked No. 1 in the preseason, with Clemson second, Oklahoma fifth and Notre Dame at No. 11. In 2017, the Coaches Poll ranked the eventual CFP teams first (Alabama), fifth (Clemson), eighth (Oklahoma) and 15th (Georgia) Nine of the 20 teams to make the CFP have ranked in the top four of the preseason Coaches Poll. However, Alabama has accounted for five of those; Clemson has accounted for two instances. A top-4 preseason team not named Alabama or Clemson hasn't reached the CFP since the first year (Oregon and Florida State in 2014). Here's how it breaks down since the inaugural CFP for the 2014 season. Teams in bold were ranked in the top 4 in the preseason and reached the CFP. Year Top 4 Preseason Coaches Poll CFP teams (Preseason rank) 2014 No. 1 Florida State No. 2 Alabama No. 3 Oklahoma No. 4 Oregon Alabama (No. 2), Oregon (No. 4), Florida State (No. 1), Ohio State (No. 6) 2015 No. 1 Ohio State No. 2 TCU No. 3 Alabama No. 4 Baylor Clemson (No. 12), Alabama (No. 3), Michigan State (No. 6), Oklahoma (No. 19) 2016 No. 1 Alabama No. 2 Clemson No. 3 Oklahoma No. 4 Florida State Alabama (No. 1), Clemson (No. 2), Ohio State (No. 5), Washington (No. 18) 2017 No. 1 Alabama No. 2 Ohio State No. 3 Florida State No. 4 USC Clemson (No. 5), Oklahoma (No. 8), Georgia (No. 15), Alabama (No. 1) 2018 No. 1 Alabama No. 2 Clemson No. 3 Ohio State No. 4 Georgia Alabama (No. 1), Clemson (No. 2), Notre Dame (No. 11), Oklahoma (No. 5) Last year, five of the preseason Top 10 teams ended ranked in the top 10, including the top three (though Clemson and Alabama switched Nos. 1 and 2). Here's how last year's Coaches Poll rankings changed week to week: Every automatic bid to the 2020-21 FCS football playoffs Ten of the 16 teams in the 2020-21 FCS football championship will be determined by automatic qualification via conference championship. Here are all the automatic bids before the bracket is revealed on Sunday, April 18. READ MORE DII Report: A new college baseball Power 10 rankings while titans clash on the football field West Texas A&M debuts in our DII college baseball rankings. Tusculum wins its first SAC DII football title in over a decade. Check out college baseball and spring football action in this week's DII Report. READ MORE Division I Football Committee announces championship host sites The NCAA Division I Football Championship committee announced today 14 predetermined preliminary round sites for this year’s Division I Football Championship. READ MORE